KEY POINTS:
Leith Innes says it will be nice to be in the Ellerslie jockeys' room tomorrow and be able to talk to someone.
On Wednesday, Innes returned from three months riding in Japan, where he says the only conversations he ever had were through an interpreter.
As nice as it is to be back on home territory, Innes thoroughly enjoyed his Asian experience.
He rode only four winners, but that does not reflect the financial rewards.
The first of the winners was in a group two race which had a winning stake of $1.2 million.
The downside was living 90 minutes by train from central Tokyo in an area where he was the only person to speak English.
"It was very hard. It got a bit boring at times because I rode only two or three trackwork each morning and you had to fill in the day.
"People tried to help with the language around where I lived, but it's very difficult."
Innes said he learned a lot, especially about tailoring riding to suit the tracks.
"It's a long way up the uphill straight at Tokyo Racecourse, especially when you're on a slow horse on the dirt track."
He rode extensively against Yasunari Iwata, who won the Melbourne Cup on Japanese-trained stayer Delta Blues.
"The Japanese riders are world class; they'd hold their own anywhere.
"Many of them ride a little passively and allow the horse to do it, but Iwata is aggressive.
"He's a hustle-and-bustle rider and that suited the Melbourne Cup."
Innes didn't get to see the Melbourne Cup while in Japan, even though it was televised live in some places.
"Everything in Japan was about Deep Impact, who was the stablemate of Delta Blues and Pop Rock."
Deep Impact, rated far superior to Delta Blues and Pop Rock, ran in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris leading up to the Melbourne Cup week.
"All you heard about was Deep Impact, Deep Impact.
"More than 5000 went over from Japan to watch him race in the Arc."
Innes rates the Japanese stayers the best he's seen.
"Maybe the horses up to 1600m are not as fast as Australasia's, but at 1600m and beyond they're superior to ours."
It didn't surprise him that Delta Blues was able to lead on the corner in the Melbourne Cup and hold on to a narrow advantage.
"When a horse gets clear at the 200m in Japan they're very hard to pull back. They get them very fit and hard."
Innes has a good book of rides at Ellerslie tomorrow, including impressive one-from-one juvenile Crossyourheart from the Collett/Hapeta stable.
Crossyourheart comes up against The Pooka, who won his recent debut race by 9.5 lengths and is held in high regard by trainer John Wheeler.
